40 years after Houston serial killings, one victim still unidentified

By Carol Christian

Updated 2:33 pm, Thursday, July 25, 2013

Photo: Anonymous, ASSOCIATED PRESS

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This cabin near Lake Sam Rayburn in Broaddus, Texas, is owned by the family of Dean Corll, 33, the alleged central figure in 1973 a mass slaying case. Sheriff's deputies searched the cabin and found torture items inside the cabin and under it. (AP Photo)

San Augustine County Sheriff deputies, Robert McCroskey, left and Charles Martin, display torture implements found inside and under a cabin on Aug. 15, 1973, Broaddus, Texas. The cabin was owned by the parents of Dean Corll, allegedly the central figure in a mass slaying case. The items included three pairs of plastic gloves, shovels, sacks of lime, rope and a torture board. Owners of cabins nearby say Elmer Wayne Henley, 17, and David Owen Brooks, 18, also alleged connected with the slayings were frequent visitors at the cabin. (AP Photo)

San Augustine County Sheriff deputies, Robert McCroskey, left and Charles Martin, display torture implements found inside and under a cabin on Aug. 15, 1973, Broaddus, Texas. The cabin was owned by the parents

This is beige shirt with a peace sign and lettering possibly referring to a U.S. Marine Corps unit was worn by the very last unidentified victim of Houston sadistic serial killer Dean Corll. The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences is hoping for leads to help identify this Corll victim who was likely killed in 1971 or 1972. Like other victims, this unidentified teen was probably a Houstonian.

This is beige shirt with a peace sign and lettering possibly referring to a U.S. Marine Corps unit was worn by the very last unidentified victim of Houston sadistic serial killer Dean Corll. The Harris County

At her home in Katy, Sandy Henrichs holds a photograph of her brother, Steven Sickman, who never came home from a party in the summer of 1972. Nearly 40 years later, DNA tests have confirmed that Sickman was one of the victims of serial killer Dean Corll. (Alan Warren, For the Chronicle)

At her home in Katy, Sandy Henrichs holds a photograph of her brother, Steven Sickman, who never came home from a party in the summer of 1972. Nearly 40 years later, DNA tests have confirmed that Sickman was

Sandy Henrichs holds a 1970s style black belt that she had that was just like her brother's except his was red, that she was going to give him the next time she saw him. (Alan Warren, For the Chronicle)

Sandy Henrichs holds a 1970s style black belt that she had that was just like her brother's except his was red, that she was going to give him the next time she saw him. (Alan Warren, For the Chronicle)

Photo: Alan Warren, Houston Chronicle

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Old photographs of Sandy Henrichs and her brother Steven Sickman during the 1970s. (Alan Warren, For the Chronicle)

Old photographs of Sandy Henrichs and her brother Steven Sickman during the 1970s. (Alan Warren, For the Chronicle)

Photo: Alan Warren, Houston Chronicle

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Denise Davis pays her respects to the casket holding the remains of an unidentified victim of the Dean Corll mass murders of the early 1970s at the Harris County Cemetery, Nov. 12, 2009, in Houston. ( Michael Paulsen / Chronicle )

Denise Davis pays her respects to the casket holding the remains of an unidentified victim of the Dean Corll mass murders of the early 1970s at the Harris County Cemetery, Nov. 12, 2009, in Houston. ( Michael

Shirley Lyles (second from left) gives a hug to forensic anthropologist Dr. Sharon Derrick, while Ginger Brewer, (third from left), Kim Gomez Cindy Michalk and Barbara Vaughn look at the gravesite of their family member, Joseph Allen Lyles, who was 17 when he disappeared in February 1973, and has recently been identified through DNA analysis as being the victim of Dean Corll. The family was attended the funeral services for an unidentified victim of the Dean Corll mass murders of the early 1970s being buried at the Harris County Cemetery, Nov. 12, 2009, in Houston. ( Michael Paulsen / Chronicle )

The casket holding the remains of an unidentified victim of the Dean Corll mass murders of the early 1970s is buried at the Harris County Cemetery, Nov. 12, 2009, in Houston. ( Michael Paulsen / Chronicle )

The casket holding the remains of an unidentified victim of the Dean Corll mass murders of the early 1970s is buried at the Harris County Cemetery, Nov. 12, 2009, in Houston. ( Michael Paulsen / Chronicle )

Photo: Michael Paulsen, Houston Chronicle

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A moldy pair of cowboy boots and a pair of swim trunks found with a body nearly 34 years ago are laid out at the medical examiner's office May 12, 2008, in Houston along with a digital image of what the victim may have looked like. The young man is the last victim of serial killers Dean Corll and Elmer Wayne Henley who was never identified. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)

A moldy pair of cowboy boots and a pair of swim trunks found with a body nearly 34 years ago are laid out at the medical examiner's office May 12, 2008, in Houston along with a digital image of what the victim

That day and the next, investigators found the remains of 16 boys and young men at the boat shed in the 4500 block of Silver Bell Street. It was the largest of three mass graves where Corll and his helpers buried their victims.

Next month, Derrick will make a brief presentation at the 40th high school reunion of Waltrip High School's class of 1973.

The class members would likely be about the same age as the unidentified victim, whom Derrick believes probably disappeared in 1971 or 1972.

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"I really want to get this information out to them," she said. "What we need is people to step up and say, 'I had a friend who went missing. Here's his name.' "

Something that bothers Derrick is the relatively little news coverage the case has received over the years outside the Houston area.

"In Houston, there's a core of people who are still very angry and very sad about what happened here," said Derrick, who has helped identify five of the victims since 2006.

"I'm concerned that family members of this boy have completely moved out of the area, and we're not getting national coverage on the Internet," she said.

The unidentified teen was buried with striped swim trunks, a tan shirt with a peace symbol on the back and cowboy boots.

The shirt has several tiny letters that might be LB4 MF or possibly LBHMF.

"We still wonder if he had a military person in his family," Derrick said. "There's just something about his clothing that makes you think he's either protesting the military or has a conection to the military. A lot of boys his age had older brothers or fathers who were in Vietnam."

Derrick believes the teen stood 5-5 or 5-6 and had dark brown hair that hung over the tops of his ears. His teeth were in good condition and had no fillings.

The boy's DNA profile has been entered into a national database and, locally, has been compared against six or seven family samples with no match, Derrick said.

Because almost all of the known victims were from the Houston area, Derrick said she believes the unidentified young man was, also.

"Nobody was from any further away than Baton Rouge, that we know of," she said.

Anyone who might have information about the boy's identity is asked to call the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences' Identification Unit at 713-796-6774.